World View |
Featured
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Book Review |
Chronic pain — why science has scant succour for one in five people
A physician calls on the medical system to contextualize and personalize the treatment of pain.
- Julian Nowogrodzki
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News |
Gene therapy’s comeback: how scientists are trying to make it safer
Unwanted immune responses threaten to derail some gene therapies. But researchers are seeking ways to combat harmful inflammation.
- Heidi Ledford
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Research Highlight |
Who needs sugar? ‘Oleogels’ help the medicine go down
Drug-carrying gels that are easy to swallow could make treatment easier for children — and parents.
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Nature Video |
How robot bodies could grow human tissue grafts
Some tissues need physical stimulation as they grow and robots could provide a realistic exercise routine.
- Shamini Bundell
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News |
Long COVID risk falls only slightly after vaccination, huge study shows
Results suggest that vaccines offer less protection against lingering symptoms than expected.
- Sara Reardon
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News |
First pig kidneys transplanted into people: what scientists think
The genetically modified organs seemed to function for more than two days but some researchers are sceptical that the experiments had value.
- Sara Reardon
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Innovations In |
Science Still Doesn’t Understand How Our Sex Affects Our Health
Our X and Y chromosomes represent the biggest genetic difference in our species. Medicine routinely ignores their influence. Why?
- Meghan McDonough
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News & Views |
Metabolic diversity drives cancer cell invasion
The migration and growth of cancer cells at sites far from the initial tumour is usually fatal. Metabolic heterogeneity — variable expression of an enzyme in the initial tumour — is identified as an early step in this deadly process.
- Sanjeethan C. Baksh
- & Lydia W. S. Finley
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Article |
PHGDH heterogeneity potentiates cancer cell dissemination and metastasis
PHDGH heterogeneity in primary tumours could be a sign of tumour aggressiveness.
- Matteo Rossi
- , Patricia Altea-Manzano
- & Sarah-Maria Fendt
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News |
Flu vaccine could cut COVID risk
Health-care workers who got the influenza vaccine were also protected from COVID-19 — but the effect might not last long.
- Ewen Callaway
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News |
Will the FDA change how it vets drugs following the Alzheimer’s debacle?
The accelerated approval of aducanumab has triggered US lawmakers to push for more oversight from the agency.
- Max Kozlov
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Editorial |
The toll of menopause: how universities can help
Some women are leaving science because employers are failing to support them during this stage of life. That can’t be right.
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News |
Coronavirus ‘ghosts’ found lingering in the gut
Scientists are studying whether long COVID could be linked to viral fragments found in the body months after initial infection.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Kids get limited COVID protection from world’s most popular vaccines
First analyses of two Chinese-made vaccines in young children show that the shots do provide 60–65% effectiveness against hospitalization.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Technology Feature |
Unlocking the potential of health data to help research and treatments
Medical records can be tricky to access because of confidentiality and variability, but data-sharing efforts are helping to overcome these hurdles — without compromising patient privacy.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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Book Review |
Former US mental-health tsar calls for a care overhaul
Thomas Insel advocates better social policy, not just more brain research.
- Alison Abbott
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World View |
Medical regulators: look beyond animal tests
Flexible approaches used to accelerate COVID-19 vaccines deserve wider uptake.
- Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long-read: The quest to prevent MS — and understand other post-viral diseases
Researchers are investigating why some people infected with Epstein-Barr virus go on to develop multiple sclerosis, and what can be done to prevent it.
- Asher Mullard
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Book Review |
Enslaved people and the birth of epidemiology
Data on disease were mined from the grisly records of the transatlantic trade in people.
- Mary T. Bassett
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Research Highlight |
Long-sought structure of Pepto-Bismol decoded
Sugar-wafer-like layering could be key to how this antacid fights gastric discomforts.
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News Feature |
The brain-reading devices helping paralysed people to move, talk and touch
Implants are becoming more sophisticated — and are attracting commercial interest.
- Liam Drew
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News Feature |
Four lessons from the pandemic to reboot the NIH
From innovation to workforce diversity, scientists are eager for change at the world’s largest funder of biomedical research.
- Max Kozlov
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Perspective |
The Human Pangenome Project: a global resource to map genomic diversity
The Human Pangenome Reference Consortium aims to offer the highest quality and most complete human pangenome reference that provides diverse genomic representation across human populations.
- Ting Wang
- , Lucinda Antonacci-Fulton
- & David Haussler
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Article |
Generation of 3D lacrimal gland organoids from human pluripotent stem cells
Organoids originating from human multipotent ocular surface epithelial stem cells are similar to native lacrimal glands and undergo functional maturation when transplanted adjacent to the eyes of recipient rats, developing lumina and producing tear-film proteins.
- Ryuhei Hayashi
- , Toru Okubo
- & Kohji Nishida
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Research Highlight |
Ambitious trial inspires a rethink on a common ailment of pregnancy
The standard practice of treating only severe cases of high blood pressure during pregnancy might be misguided.
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News |
COVID vaccine plus infection can lead to months of immunity
Findings from Brazil, Sweden and the United Kingdom show that before the advent of Omicron, vaccination benefited even those who had had a bout of COVID-19.
- Saima May Sidik
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News |
African clinical trial denied access to key COVID drug Paxlovid
Supply shortages and limits on research leave low- and middle-income countries struggling to access Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral.
- Heidi Ledford
- & Amy Maxmen
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Outlook |
Hepatitis B
The fight against an infectious liver disease pivots from control to eradication.
- Herb Brody
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Outlook |
Research round-up: hepatitis B
Genomic jigsaws, timely vaccinations and other highlights from studies about hepatitis B.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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Outlook |
Developing a cure for chronic hepatitis B requires a fresh approach
The prevailing dogma for drug development is insufficient; it’s time to recentre efforts around the immune system.
- Matteo Iannacone
- & Luca G. Guidotti
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Outlook |
Why hepatitis B hits Aboriginal Australians especially hard
Often geographically isolated and without access to good health care, Indigenous people have a higher chance of contracting the disease than do other populations. They’re also prone to a viral variant that has proved difficult to treat.
- Benjamin Plackett
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Outlook |
Hepatitis B and the liver cancer endgame
More than half of the world’s cases of liver cancer are due to viral liver infections. Detecting and treating hepatitis B could help to reverse the global increase in fatal liver cancer.
- Kristina Campbell
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Outlook |
Closing in on a cure for hepatitis B
Finite courses of treatment could get the virus under control — with the right combination of drugs.
- Elie Dolgin
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News & Views |
Genome doubling causes double trouble
Human cancer cells often double their genome through an error in cell division, and this can lead to further genomic instability. A detailed analysis of the first cell cycle after genome doubling sheds light on this phenomenon.
- Yonatan Eliezer
- & Uri Ben-David
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News & Views |
Cell position matters in tumour development
Skin cells called melanocytes are not equally affected by the same genetic changes. Their ability to form tumours has now been linked to gene-expression programs that are selectively activated according to a cell’s anatomical position.
- Jean-Christophe Marine
- & María S. Soengas
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News |
COVID antibody drugs work best when given as early as possible
Data from dozens of trials also suggest that antibody treatments could be given in much smaller amounts than current practice.
- Ewen Callaway
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News Feature |
The quest to prevent MS — and understand other post-viral diseases
Some people develop multiple sclerosis after an infection. Could a vaccine prevent that — and what does it reveal about the long-term effects of viruses?
- Asher Mullard
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News |
COVID vaccines: head-to-head comparison reveals how they stack up
Comparison of the immune response to four prominent COVID-19 vaccines is among the most thorough so far, authors say.
- Emily Waltz
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News |
Can drugs reduce the risk of long COVID? What scientists know so far
Researchers are trying to establish whether existing COVID-19 vaccines and treatments can prevent lasting symptoms.
- Heidi Ledford
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News & Views |
Mucus secretion blocked at its source in the lungs
Higher than normal secretion of mucin, a molecular component of mucus, is a feature of many lung diseases. The development of a peptide that blocks mucin secretion in airway epithelial cells might lead to therapies.
- Irina Gitlin
- & John V. Fahy
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News |
Morgue data hint at COVID’s true toll in Africa
Around 90% of deceased people tested at a Lusaka facility during coronavirus surges were positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting flaws in the idea of an ‘African paradox’.
- Freda Kreier
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Article |
Immune regulation by fungal strain diversity in inflammatory bowel disease
Genetically diverse Candida albicans strains in patients with inflammatory bowel disease secrete a toxin and aggravate IL-1β-dependent intestinal inflammation.
- Xin V. Li
- , Irina Leonardi
- & Iliyan D. Iliev
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Obituary |
C. Thomas Caskey (1938–2022)
Geneticist who demonstrated the universality of life’s code.
- Jan Witkowski
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News |
COVID’s true death toll: much higher than official records
Modelling suggests that by the end of 2021, some 18 million people had died because of the pandemic.
- David Adam
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News |
Australian researchers push to end politicians’ power to veto grants
Inquiry into political interference in research will consider stripping ministers of the power to reverse decisions on peer-assessed projects.
- Bianca Nogrady
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Nature Index |
African leadership underpins success of malaria drug trial
Urgent research to bolster disease defences demands equitable responsibility and ownership between partners.
- Mark Peplow
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News & Views |
Immune cells alter genetic decoding in cancer
Cancer cells make proteins in which the amino acid phenylalanine is swapped for tryptophan when immune cells trigger a tryptophan shortage. This finding reveals unexpected dynamics of genetic decoding.
- Pavel V. Baranov
- & John F. Atkins
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Research Highlight |
Paper strip holds high-accuracy, low-cost test for dreaded viruses
Screening method detects Zika and chikungunya viruses using materials that fit onto easily transported paper test cards.
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Article
| Open AccessWhole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19
Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.
- Athanasios Kousathanas
- , Erola Pairo-Castineira
- & J. Kenneth Baillie